How did Capital One get to the point where, in 2015, it announced that all new company applications would run in—and all existing applications would be systematically rearchitected for—the cloud? Although Capital One, a technology company that offers financial services, is different in important ways from other companies in its industry, its path to the AWS Cloud and its cloud-first approach to software development offers useful tips for large, non-cloud-native, highly-regulated enterprises mapping out their own cloud journeys.

The University of Arizona addressed the challenge of creating a more efficient and agile IT operation by migrating to the cloud. After initial success in migrating its Research Administration system, UA became the first major university to migrate its PeopleSoft application environments—Learning (EL), Human Resources (HR), and Student (SA)—to AWS. The University of Arizona is all about tomorrow. The school is building an IT operation that is scalable, responsive to its changing needs, and a foundation on which it can grow and innovate.

LoanLogics is able to scale to storage demands in days instead of weeks using AWS Storage Gateway and Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS). LoanLogics is a software company that helps its customers validate compliance and manage risk during the manufacture and acquisition of loan assets. By migrating all in on the AWS Cloud, LoanLogics' product and development teams have more time to focus on delivering value to customers.

Using AWS, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) delivers adaptive, personalized tests to improve the learning experience for the student. NWEA provides the insights that help students learn, teachers teach, and leaders lead. NWEA’s proven assessment solutions, customized professional learning, and industry-leading research keeps students ahead of the curve as times and standards change. NWEA uses a serverless architecture on AWS and is looking towards machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze the data and turn it into something meaningful for students and teachers.

The California Cloud Workforce Project (“CA Cloud”), a consortium of 19 LA County community colleges and their sister high schools, offers a Cloud Computing Certificate. The CA Cloud curriculum was designed collaboratively by faculty at Santa Monica College (SMC) and AWS Educate, with the support of subject matter experts from AWS and other LA-based tech companies to equip students with cloud skills needed for careers in the tech industry.

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), in collaboration with the AWS Educate program, rolled out a Cloud Computing specialization as part of its Information Systems Technology (IST) Associate of Applied Science degree starting in Fall 2018. The program is one of the first cloud computing degrees in the nation offered by a community college. The two-year IST Cloud Computing degree program is built to address the high concentration of tech employers in the Northern Virginia region and the demand for employees with cloud computing skills. This degree program marks an exciting first step in a much broader plan to bring cloud computing education to students throughout the state of Virginia, as this degree also seeks to bridge into high schools and four-year institutions.

The University of Oklahoma IT department aims to affect the student experience on campus in more ways than just delivering technology. Technology innovation, like Alexa, will play a major role in that mission. After introducing Alexa to OU, the students are all-in when it comes to using voice-enabled technology. Technology-minded students want to learn how to develop Alexa skills and believe it is a marketable skill as they look to their future after OU.

When two Cornell University instructors wanted to improve student access to course resources, they turned to the cloud. By using cloud-based virtual desktops and application streaming services, every student could access the same application on any device. Cornell University adopted cloud solutions to achieve outcomes like increased in-class interactivity, eliminating the need for visits to the on-campus computer labs, and an improved experience for distance learners.

Amazon Prime Video used the AWS Cloud and AWS Elemental to stream live NFL games to millions of global fans, ensure reliability and low latency, and help advertisers optimize ad performance. The online streaming, video-on-demand service offers original content as well as movies and TV shows for purchase. To stream 11 live NFL games, Amazon Prime Video took advantage of the scalability and performance of Amazon DynamoDB and other AWS services, including AWS Elemental MediaTailor.

Intercom designed, prototyped, tested, and deployed a stream-processing service in under two weeks using an AWS serverless architecture. Intercom offers a suite of messaging-first products that integrate seamlessly with other companies' websites and mobile apps to help them acquire, engage with, and support their own customers. Intercom is using AWS Lambda and Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics to detect and shut down misbehaving customer integrations that might imperil availability by excessively updating Amazon DynamoDB.

National Geographic Partners (NGP) used a serverless architecture for an app that provides personalized access to its 130-year, multichannel content catalog. NGP, a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, provides premium science, adventure, and exploration content across a huge portfolio of media assets. The National Geographic App uses AWS Lambda, Amazon Rekognition, and Amazon CloudSearch to build user profiles, automatically tag images, and serve refreshed, engaging content each time a user visits.